Fastest operating system for the Raspberry PI. Speedtest between RISC OS and Linux.

The Cloverleaf RISC OS is probably the fastest operating system for the Raspberry Pi family. It runs on all Raspberry Pi's from Raspberry Pi Zero to Raspberry Pi 4B. RISC OS was the first OS developed for ARM CPUs as the ARM was developed the same time by Acorn Computer Ltd. in Cambridge, UK. Acorn Computers was the creator of the legendary ARM RISC chips which are now the basis for 90% of all mobile phones. ARM Ltd had been formed by Acorn Computer, Apple and VSLI. ARM licenses it's RISC technology to chip producers like Apple, Samsung, Huawai, Allwinner, Rockchip, NVIDIA and many more for different purposes.
Currently RISC OS runs only on a single core but this issue will be overcome end of 2021. Already now it runs faster on many occasions than a Linux distribution on the Raspberry Pi and is more responsive. The Cloverleaf RISC OS crowdfunding compaign support the faster development of RISC OS and you can get a Cloverleaf distribution for 29 Euro for your Raspberry.
Currently we are doing a Kickstater crowdfunding to support the RISC OS development to close the missing pags in RISC OS drivers and RISC OS app improvements.

[gregclare]

Nice comparison, but unfortunately a bit biased when you note the slow URL entry on the Linux test, and the RISC OS browser test being declared complete whilst still loading. Although it's good to see a RISC OS promotion video, unfortunately this is just demonstrating that for any given SD card speed, a smaller OS will indeed load faster than a larger OS. :)

[batlin]

Spending over 20 seconds typing in the URL in Linux, and only around 10 seconds in RISC OS seemed a bit unfair. It would have been better to break it down into: 1) time from boot to desktop. 2) time to load the browser (this is complicated by the fact that you have to click the icon again in the system tray in RISC OS, though), and 3) time from hitting enter after typing the URL until the page is fully loaded. That said, even adjusting for the fudge factors here, there's a pretty impressive boost for Cloverleaf.

[Sb]

I would really like to see ARM step up and start supporting the open riscos community. Intel/IBM/Nvidia etc have been supporting linux for years now by hiring devs just to work on the linux kernel full time. Would be nice to see ARM employ a couple of devs full time to bring risc os forward.

[outshiner]

RiscOS was specifically built for ARM processors.

[ferrumignis]

Was the 18 seconds it took to enter the URL very slow typing or Linux being slow and buffering the keyboard input whilst still initialising?

[memsom]

I guess, why would I pay you for this over the other RISCOS versions for the PI? You say it is open source, but your repo is empty, and has been for nearly a year…. I guess this just looks like a commercialisation of the open sourced RISCOS code base, with no real differentiator I can see. Is RISCOS still cooperative multitasking and will lock up and crash hard with multiple apps? Have you fixed RISCOS to have memory protection? I mean, Linux is marginally slower to boot, but is also robust.

[lucius]

But, what can you do with Risc OS vs. Linux? I guess Risc OS is much more limited in it's use. Recently put Puppy Linux on my Zero. Because it loads into RAM it is much faster then Raspian.

[nytrex]

A good video to showcase a very strong plus of using RISC OS. I do not know of any other modern/retro OS that boots so quickly and ready for use.

Possibly should have broken the timing into two categories:
1) Cold Boot to Desktop
2) Open Browser and load pinned Browser tab( www.riscoscloverleaf.com )

[phoenixbyrd]

Twister OS is the best OS for the Pi 4.

[lionwangsinovoip]

The Banana Pi M2 Zero is an ultra compact single board computer which measures only 65mm*30mm. Its external interfaces are the same as the Raspberry Pi Zero W, aIt uses the quad-core Cortex A7 Allwinner H2+ processor, with 512MB RAM. it supports both Linux and Android operating systems.

[oldman]

Even with taking forever to type in I noted the site up on linux several seconds before he called it. And the risc is was still loading when clock stopped

[detaart]

By default, a linux distro like raspberry pi os will run a lot of services and daemons that could be disabled. It's entirely feasible to boot linux to a "desktop" in 10 seconds or so on a pi.
Don't get me wrong. I like riscos, but ... apples to apples please. Riscos doesn't even have multicore support, memory protection, proper multitasking, etc.

[maartenc]

Of course RiscOS boots much faster than Raspbian.
Raspbian is doing much more in the background.
Risc OS is just lighter.
But now try loading a youtube movie in RiscOS.
I love RiscOS as well as Linux, they both have it's cons and pro's.
They are just different, ment for a total different audience.

[ubunturulez]

Bro, I’m a fan, so take this with a brotherly love, but you may be englands slowest typer. 😂

[BryanChance]

About 30 seconds of black screen, I would have thought it had frozen and unplugged it. LOL

[user]

riscos and android types are mostly optimized for risc processors ...and possible AmigaOS

[TheGlowingObsidian]

Hold up what kind of 3b+ is that, it has no wifi box ?

[randaldavis]

I look forward to a Pi m2 & ssd interface being standard feature for booting to.

[priceri]

Hey! Your website needs another farthing in the meter. Where do we sign up??

[jyvben]

can we program in python and use it to control the gpio ?